*Scroll Down For Updates!*
Reports coming out of Northern Idaho say that Fish and Game Deputy Director Jim Unsworth is blaming the gray wolf as the main reason for a 13% per year reduction in cow elk in the Lolo Hunting Zone. Another F&G biologist, George Pauley, states that at least 87% of the elk in this region needs to survive each year in order to sustain an elk herd. At present that survival rate is estimated at 75%.
And with this information, I have some questions. The first one and most obvious is what took IDFG so long to make an official announcement, assuming Unsworth’s announcement is official and not some rogue event?
One report from The Olympian said:
The agency estimates cow elk in a remote area designated as the Lolo Hunting Zone have dwindled by as much as 13 percent each year. A recent study of radio-collared cow elk indicates that for the most part, wolves are to blame, Fish and Game says.
My second question now becomes, for how many years have they determined, or better yet, known, that the cow elk have been dwindling at such a rate? Which leads me to my final question.
Why hasn’t IDFG done something about this problem and here’s the reason I ask? Back last January 25, 2008, I reported that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, while waiting for the formal delisting of the gray wolf, announced that it was easing some of the wolf management restrictions. Among those easements was one that allowed F&G to protect herds of elk.
While much of the west in and around the Rocky Mountains and Yellowstone Park wait impatiently for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to formally announce the removal of the gray wolf from protection under the Endangered Species Act, the USFWS announced that until that event takes place, they are easing some of the restrictions on the wolf in order to give flexibility to states to implement actions to protect wild herds of elk, deer and moose, protect livestock, private property and for public safety. The states involved are Idaho, Wyoming and Montana.
At the time of this report, Ed Bangs, USFWS wolf recovery leader, said there were no areas in the West where wolves where destroying elk herds but wanted to be prepared.
Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says he knows of no areas where wolves are destroying elk herds in the west. That is probably debatable by some, especially concerning the elk herd in Yellowstone Park.
The point to all this is that USFWS and the three states, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, appear to be approaching this entire wolf delisting event with an attitude of being prepared and creating tools to be able to use in order to stave off any problems that may arise that would put elk, deer or moose herds in jeopardy from wolves. Reasonable people shouldn’t find a problem with that. Unreasonable people, which is what we are dealing with constantly with wolf recovery efforts, can only embellish facts and blow things completely out of proportion.
Well, it appears that we have our first official announcement of wolves destroying an elk herd in the Lolo region and the question I have is what is being done about it?
To the best of my recollections in researching through past articles, it is my understanding that even when Judge Donald Molloy ruled to issue the temporary injunction that placed the wolf back on the Endangered Species Act list, this ruling did not eliminate the eased restrictions USFWS had announce that gave F&G more flexibility to handle issues like this.
Finally an announcement from Idaho Fish and Game that wolves are destroying one elk herd. How long they have known this remains to be seen. IDFG has the flexibility granted them by the USFWS to protect that elk herd. Now they need to do something about it.
*Update – 11/28/2008 12:15 p.m.*
Doing some further research into the question of why the Idaho Department of Fish and Game hasn’t done anything to stop the decimation of the Lolo Hunting Zone elk herd, I probably have found my answer on the IDFG website concerning the easing of restrictions in wolf management. As I said before, the USFWS amended the 10j rule of the Endangered Species Act to allow for the protection of wild elk, deer and moose herds (see link above). The full text of that amended rule can be found here (pdf).
A brief explanation is also available on the IDFG website. Here’s what it says:
Options for ungulate management in amended 10j rule
(v) Take in response to wild ungulate impacts. If wolf predation is having an unacceptable impact on wild ungulate populations (deer, elk, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, antelope, or bison) as determined by the respective State or Tribe, a State or Tribe may lethally remove the wolves in question.
(A) In order for this provision to apply, the State or Tribes must prepare a science-based document that:
(1) Describes the basis of ungulate population or herd management objectives, what data indicate that the ungulate population or herd is below management objectives, what data indicate that wolves are a major cause of the unacceptable impact to the ungulate population or herd, why wolf removal is a warranted solution to help restore the ungulate population or herd to State or Tribal management objectives, the level and duration of wolf removal being proposed, and how ungulate population or herd response to wolf removal will be measured and control actions adjusted for effectiveness;
(2) Demonstrates that attempts were and are being made to address other identified major causes of ungulate herd or population declines or the State or Tribe commits to implement possible remedies or conservation measures in addition to wolf removal; and
(3) Provides an opportunity for peer review and public comment on their proposal prior to submitting it to the Service for written concurrence. The State or Tribe must:
(i) Conduct the peer review process in conformance with the Office of Management and Budget’s Final Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review (70 FR 2664, January 14, 2005) and include in their proposal an explanation of how the bulletin’s standards were considered and satisfied; and
(ii) Obtain at least five independent peer reviews from individuals with relevant expertise other than staff employed by a State, Tribal, or Federal agency directly or indirectly involved with predator control or ungulate management in Idaho, Montana, or Wyoming.
(B) Before we authorize lethal removal, we must determine that an unacceptable impact to wild ungulate populations or herds has occurred. We also must determine that the proposed lethal removal is science-based, will not contribute to reducing the wolf population in the State below 20 breeding pairs and 200 wolves, and will not impede wolf recovery.
It would appear with this amended ruling that once enough information is gathered, as it appears so in this case, to make a determination that the elk herd is being wiped out by wolves, it is then up to the IDFG to initiate the process as described in the Amended 10j rule, to stop the killing. Even if we were to assume that all the necessary parties were convinced the wolves were the problem, by the time any effort to stop the killing was approved, including the unending onslaught of lawsuits, it may be too late to save the herd.
This is just another example of poor management along with the creation of ridiculous rules by USFWS and the idiocy of the courts, that would allow such stringent rules with inadequate means of monitoring elk, deer and moose herds and wolf populations statewide. As I have said repeatedly, what good is the creation of game management plans, if the means aren’t also made available to carry out the plan properly. We are kidding ourselves to think that USFWS has any idea at all the condition of the wolf packs and ungulate herds anywhere within the Wolf Recovery Area.
For me this falls back onto the federal government for sticking their nose into wildlife issues they have no business being in in the first place. If the USFWS is going to introduce wolves and declared them protected, how on earth can they have a clue about the conditions of the wolves, the elk, the deer and moose, without built-in means of proper management? It has taken years for an agency to finally admit there may be a problem with elk herds being cleaned out by wolves because of inadequate management?
While it appears that the Zolo Hunting Zone is in imminent danger of losing its elk herd, about the only good thing that has come from this announcement is that IDFG has admitted there is a problem with wolves killing elk. Will any of this come soon enough to safe the elk herds in any other parts of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana?
Tom Remington
